


so cut through the heart cold and clear

by alchemystique



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Hook | Killian Jones & Prince "Charming" James Friendship, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 21:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2403221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemystique/pseuds/alchemystique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David reflects on his daughter and her new...friend while he drives her home from nearly freezing to death. (Soon-to-be-Jossed speculation about 4x02)</p>
            </blockquote>





	so cut through the heart cold and clear

**so cut through the heart cold and clear**

David has become a father twice-over in the span of a few years (or thirty, depending on who you ask, it's really difficult to say for sure which rules of time he's going by) and to make matters all the more difficult, his daughter is a scant two years younger than him, a full grown woman who's been making decisions her whole life without needing the help of his sage, fatherly advice.

Though she's recently come to him for his ever-so-wise council (who is he kidding, he can barely change a diaper - she's been a mother longer than he has a father) he still feels hesitant dispensing it at will, and now is hardly the time.

Shooting a quick glance into the backseat, David has to hold back a groan and yet another reprimand - running off without backup, stumbling upon danger like she's drawn to it, worrying the hell out of all the people in her life who love her so dearly, he just wants to keep her _safe_.

Perhaps she'll listen better to the other source of David's current frustration, the one she's curled into, leeching warmth from him while she shivers beneath a pile of blankets and a black leather coat that was apparently heavy enough to make her grunt when it was dropped about her shoulders.

She's conscious but not yet completely lucid, and David can't help the way his eyes flit back to the rearview mirror time and again.

Hook has been uncharacteristically quiet since piling into the truck beside Emma, but he can see the same relief in his own eyes echoed in the other mans, edging out the terrified desperation of earlier.

_She's freezing to death._

The words still catch in his mind, clinging like rotten fruit, keeping him from letting any of this go, and when he darts another glance at Emma, with those deep dark circles under her eyes and the sluggishness of her movements as she tries very hard not to let her eyes droop closed, he catches Hook's gaze instead.

The contact holds a moment longer than could be construed as accidental, as though the other man is trying to reassure him. It's comical, really, considering the frantic wild-eyes (but still tightly controlled, and he respects the man for keeping his calm) he'd been practicing at less than twenty minutes ago. 

David just nods, trying to ignore the way Emma nuzzles her nose further into Hook's shoulder, or the way he shifts to wrap an arm around her, ever mindful of the hook as he tugs at the collar of his own jacket, pulling it more closely around her neck.

It's times like these David almost _forgets_ the pirate in place of the man - when he can hear the tremulous terror in his voice over the walkie talkie, prompting Emma to stay with them; when he can see the tender way he looks at his little girl; when he can feel the tension in the mans body release at the sight of Emma's tired smile.

( _Moments_ , he'd told Emma, and even then, he might have been rooting for Killian Jones.)

Emma grumbles tiredly against Hook's arm, raising her head just a bit, and David catches the way the mans eyes tear toward her.

"Hey. Maybe next time we decide to have a heart to heart, we could do it on a _date_ ," she says, her words tripping over discolored lips as she chuckles to herself, and David, try as he might, can't keep his eyes on the damn road. 

_("I'm tired, Killian," she'd said, her voice muted and her words slow. "Just stay awake for me, darling. I'll find you.")_

"I assume that means something different to you than it does to me, love. I've no idea where we'd find a large enough fruit for such an endeavor."

It's said with a sort of casual jest to it, and not for the first time David thinks he might be milking this " _I'm a fairytale pirate out of his depth_ " bit he's got going.

Emma snorts into his shirt. "Idiot," she says, fondly, eyes darting up to catch his, and David faces forward, suddenly feeling as though he's intruding.

"You're one to talk, charging off after unstable sorceresses like it's your god given talent."

 _There we go._ David doesn't actually nod his head in agreement, but it's a near thing. He can hear the shuffle of blankets behind him, knows his daughter is shifting with righteous indignation. He doesn't catch the look they must share, for a long silence is followed by a strangely muffled "Sorry."

He doesn't do a double take, either, but it's not an easy urge to resist.

"You can make it up to me on this 'date' you speak of."

She hums, low and deep in her throat, and he chances a quick look into the rearview. Emma has managed to dig a hand out of the blankets, curling it with a careless ease against Hook's forearm, and the look they're sharing is the kind he tries not to think about them sharing.

"Maybe we could get me to room temperature first."

He's almost positive he's been completely forgotten, he's _driving the damn truck_ , for god's sake, _really_ \- but he feels like he's intruding on something, something he doesn't really want his daughter to miss out on.

"I believe that can be arranged," the pirate says, and David can _hear_ the wriggle of his eyebrows.

Emma snorts, again, quietly and muffled by fabric, and he catches the flutter of her hair in the mirror as she shifts again, pushing herself further into the circle of Hooks arms. 

There is something warm and careful about the two of them, tentative but fully committed in the way they behave around each other, and maybe it's just the fact that Emma is too tired to really hide from him her feelings right now, but there is something more open than he's used to seeing from her. 

He supposes he has Hook to thank for that. He's still not entirely clear on what happened, between them, on their little time travelling adventure, but he _does_ remember Prince Charles and his declarations of devotion. Remembers the way he'd held Leia at the sight of what they'd thought at the time to be Snow's death, remembers the way his heart had ached for that kind of love in his life.

He's been fighting the inevitability of it for a long time, but he knows, in his heart, that this man, this _pirate_ who's seen more years than all of them combined - this is what Emma needs. She needs the kind of man who will tell her secrets he likely doesn't want heard by anyone but her to keep her calm and awake while her father stands at his side; the kind of man who will be by her side even when she thinks she's better off on her own.

Killian Jones, for all the darkness in him, has become a bright spot of light in Emma's life, and really, what more could David ask for?

"How we doin' back there?" he finally asks into the silence. 

"A hot chocolate wouldn't go unthanked," Emma says, and David bites back a smile. 

"I'm not sure I'm the kind of father who rewards reckless behavior."

David glances up in time to see Hook hide an almost shocked smirk. 

"Daa-aaa-aaaad," she whines jokingly, and despite himself he can't hide the responding smile.

"Maybe just this once," he tells her on a grin, reaching back behind him to pat at her knee, and her responding tired grin is bright enough to rival the sun. 

"An incredibly unwise decision, if you don't mind my saying so. She'll begin to think you encourage this sort of ridiculous self-endangerment."

David can't help the conspiratorial grin that shifts across his face as Emma 'harrumps' behind him. "If you guys are going to start ganging up on me, I'm going to find a new family."

The words are a shock to his heart - and Hooks, too, if the bowled over slack of his jaw is anything to go by. She'd muttered the words so easily, carelessly, as if she'd already forgotten how hard she'd come by them before now. 

(He doesn't think about how easily she's already fit Hook into that little box of 'family' - he's not sure he's completely ready for that)

"Good luck. We're the only ones that'll have you, stubborn little beastie that you are."

The silence in the cab is deafening, and for a moment David wonders what in the hell Hook could be thinking to remind her of exactly how many people haven't wanted her, how many people have pushed her aside and left her behind but -

"I guess I'll have to keep you, then."

David keeps his eyes on the road the rest of the way back to the loft, and if he takes a moment to clap Killian on the back in the moments before they bundle Emma up the stairs to the loft - sending him a grateful stare that the man squirms uncomfortably under - no one is any the wiser.


End file.
